Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Judy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 13, 2019

Mel Tormé will forever be lionized as the so-called “Velvet Fog” of American vocal royalty, and for some sitcom fans at least he will be fondly remembered as the unabashed obsession of one Judge Harry Stone (Harry Anderson) in the long running NBC series Night Court. Tormé’s musical legacy gets a workout every year around this time courtesy of his co- authorship of one of the “modern” standards in holiday music repertoire, The Christmas Song (sometimes more easily identified by its iconic first line, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”). Along with countless other radio, television, nightclub and (occasional) movie appearances, Tormé also earned that oft mentioned “multi hyphenate” label by also writing several books along the way, and his first non-fiction outing was a blistering account of his troubled tenure as a staff musician on the now (in)famous 1963-64 CBS variety show, The Judy Garland Show. Tormé’s book was entitled The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol, and it evidently so enraged the Garland family that they sued (unsuccessfully). Tormé paints a perhaps unavoidably schizophrenic depiction of Garland during this troubled period of her life (as fans of Garland no doubt know, there were very few untroubled periods of her life), and if the Garland heirs and assigns weren’t thrilled with some of the “depressive” elements Tormé shared about his erstwhile boss, they should have been at least passingly pleased with some of the “manic” contributions of genius Judy shared as recounted by Tormé that made her short-lived show still discussed to this day (one of them, her now legendary mash up with Barbra Streisand with Streisand singing her kind of dirge like “Happy Days are Here Again”, while Judy sang a slowed down version of “Get Happy” in counterpoint, Tormé credits pretty much solely to Judy). As a kid desperately trying to find something to watch after school, I remember to this day stumbling on an old Merv Griffin Show where Tormé was a guest hawking the book, and quite interestingly Merv had his music director Mort Lindsey also come onstage to join the conversation, since Lindsey had served in a similar capacity on the CBS Garland series. It was an early peek behind the curtain (sorry, couldn't resist) into Garland's "real" life for me personally, and though it was hardly typical reading matter for a kid, I ran right out and bought Tormé's book, devouring it with great interest. For those wanting a similar "behind the music" approach to Garland's fabled life, Judy provides a showcase for its star, but may be a little hackneyed in the way it doles out its story.

Judy paints an arguably relatively more consistently sympathetic picture than Tormé did of Garland (Renée Zellweger, in a performance almost certain to get her an Academy Award nomination, if not an outright statuette), though it doesn’t completely shy away from some of Garland’s by now well reported neurotic tendencies. The film ping pongs back and forth between one of Garland’s last professional appearances, a series of concerts at a London nightspot called The Talk of the Town, and vignettes involving the much younger Judy (Darci Shaw) at Metro Goldwyn Mayer around the time of The Wizard of Oz. The film is culled from a stage enterprise called End of the Rainbow, but rather wisely director Rupert Goold has pretty significantly “opened things up”, documenting a number of “extracurricular” activities that manage to get the story out and about in both California and England, so that the film doesn’t feel stagebound other than in its rather bracing recreations of several Garland performances in London.

While the film attempts to document Judy’s obviously self destructive tendencies, it also hedges its bets a little by showing how she was kind of magically able to pull herself together, at least at times, to give stellar performances on stage. And in fact it’s this very inconsistency that tends to give the narrative a certain wobble at times. While there are a glut of “real life” supporting players in the drama, including Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock), who famously became Judy’s fifth and final husband, the most important relationship in a way in the film is between Judy and her “handler” in London, Rosalyn Wilder (Jessie Buckley). I frankly had no idea Wilder was another “real life” personality until the actual Wilder showed up very briefly in the short making of featurette included on this Blu-ray disc as a supplement. The film might have done better to have given a bit more background on Wilder, rather than simply having her show up at various junctures to get Garland ready to perform (a Herculean task on more than one occasion).

As visceral as Zellweger’s performance undeniably is, the rest of Judy kind of feels cliché ridden and overwrought, with a combo platter of stylized Hollywood gloss combined with (probably unavoidably) an almost Douglas Sirk-ian penchant for melodrama that frankly makes it feel almost deliberately old fashioned. As “factual” as Judy at least attempts to be, there are also a couple of kind of curious things here that don’t really jibe with various elements, including the supposed timeline. Case in point: Joey Luft (Lewin Lloyd) is depicted as being a kid of what looks like seven or eight in some of the early scenes of the film, but if we take the story at face value as taking place around 1968-69, he would have been 13 or 14 at the time (the same age discrepancy holds true of Lorna Luft, portrayed by Bella Ramsey). Other characters “ripped from the headlines”, like venerable producer Bernard Delafont (Michael Gambon), are relegated to the sidelines, often utilized only to provide reactions (either approving or horrified) to Judy’s performances. Even Liza (Gemma-Leah Devereux) is basically an extra in this tale, shuffled offstage almost as soon as she's introduced.

Judy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Judy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Once again the IMDb has no technical data on the shoot, but I found a kind of interesting online attribution by James Hogarth, who is credited as being the "Digital Imaging Technician" on Judy, which mentions the Arri Alexa Studio, along with an Arriraw source, which I assume was finished at a 2K DI. This is a very appealing looking high definition presentation, one that tends to be (as mentioned above) on the "old school" Hollywood glossy side of things at times, not necessarily limited to the big production numbers the film recreates. For example, some of the early Los Angeles material is beautifully lit and rather warm looking, kind of playing as an almost unbelievable "pretend" environment surrounding a very desperate Judy. Other elements, like the kind of shabby interior of the Luft house, or the considerably more luxe suite in London Judy stays at are rendered with generally excellent fine detail on elements like fabrics of costumes and upholstery. Some of the flashback material has an almost green aspect to it, but detail levels remain excellent throughout. There was some noticeable banding on the Lionsgate masthead at disc boot up, but I didn't see anything similar in the actual film presenation.

Judy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Judy has a well rendered DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that provides nice depth in the musical recreations, with a very nice mix between the vocals ("most" of which were done live by Zellweger, according to the making of featurette) and the big band backing her up. A more intimate moment toward the end of the film (which won't be spoiled here) is also rendered with excellent fidelity. Surround activity tends to ebb and flow a bit, but there is consistently smart attention paid to differing ambient environments, with, for example, the cavernous rehearsal hall (where Judy refuses to rehearse, of course) offering good spaciousness. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.

Judy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• From the Heart: The Making of Judy (1080p; 4:05) is a brief EPK with a couple of interview snippets with Zellweger (does she always talk in that kind of a hushed whisper, or is she in awe of her subject matter?).


• Judy Image Gallery (1080p; 1:17)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:13)

Judy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Any fan of either Judy Garland or Renée Zellweger will almost be required to see this film, and the good news is Zellweger delivers an absolutely incredible performance. I will add as a curmudgeonly aside that while I found her speaking voice a really apt recreation of Garland's kind of raspy latter day sound, I wasn't especially convinced with her singing, which perhaps understandably can't match what was even in its "broken down" state the amazing instrument Garland had at her disposal. My hunch is "Judy worshipers" will find a lot to like, maybe even love, about Judy, while less devoted viewers may see some of the artifice this film exploits even as it attempts to peel the scab off of various wounds Garland suffered. Zellweger is a shoo-in for an Academy Award nomination, and my personal hunch is she may be the odds on favorite to win. Technical merits are solid, and Judy comes Recommended.